


The Measure of a Man

by Emperor_Quarter



Category: The Hollow (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Existential Crisis, Gen, I’m sorry, Post-Canon, Reeve and Adam are ex’s that is a fact, Suicidal Thoughts, Trauma, how has that not been shut down yet, i regret this but it’s fine, skeet lives bc I demand so, the Hollow is traumatizing don’t lie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24140242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emperor_Quarter/pseuds/Emperor_Quarter
Summary: “Reeve?” Adam asks, sitting next to him. “You okay?”“Sure,” the other replies, and it’s a wet laugh. “I’m just fine.”(Or: we actually address one of the biggest issues in Season 2.)
Relationships: Adam & Reeve (The Hollow)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 105





	The Measure of a Man

**Author's Note:**

> Is... is nobody gonna talk about the fact that Reeve and Adam were openly showing suicidal tendencies in episode 9? No? Okay.

It’s midnight, or somewhere near it, and Adam wakes up to toilet flushing and crying.

A few days after Hollow Life went offline, they created a treehouse to live in to just... get away. There were some times Adam couldn’t look at his parents, knowing they were fake and had no self-awareness.

Everyone was curled up in the main section, fast asleep.

He did a quick check, reaching out to find Kai and Mira next to him. He breathed out a sigh of relief. He slowly got up, trying not to disturb Kai, who sounded to be having a nice dream. He shuffled a few inches, finding Vanessa and Skeet splayed out like starfish.

_Oh._

He walked to the bathroom door (why do they even need a bathroom? He thinks it was Mira being insistent to keep up their real life idea) and sees the light on. He knocks on the door gently as to not wake the others.

“Go away,” Reeve mumbles, and Adam hears retching. “Just go away.”

“You realize that sounds like more of an invitation to come in, right?” Adam points out, walking inside and closing the door behind him. He sits down next to the other who is flimsily trying to push him away. He gives up, Adam is essentially unmovable by any normal human.

Reeve’s eyes are puffy and sore, and he hugs the toilet bowl miserably. Adam rubs circles into his back, and Reeve leans into the touch. “Do you want to talk or should we just sit here?” Adam asks.

The other doesn’t respond, closing the lid and resting his head on the seat. “Can we get rid of the vomiting function, wherever the hell that is? Kai can delete it, right?”

Adam stifles a laugh. “I’m not actually sure. I hope because then we wouldn’t need a bathroom either.”

“Where else am I supposed to be miserable?” Reeve asks.

“Um... the kitchen?” Adam says tentatively, and Reeve laughs, gasping in breaths of air.

They sit quietly for a bit, Adam pulls away his hand. He stares at a small clock in the corner. It’s up to date on reality time. So it’s 2:27 in the morning, nice. 

He wonders, briefly, what caused Reeve to be up at this hour. It might have been nightmares, he concludes. He still has them from that ice giant and nearly dying. Well, not really, because then it was just a game.

Now, he’s realized how absolutely traumatizing the Hollow is, and _damn,_ if it weren’t for the memory restoration tech they could have been seriously believing they could have died. Even then...

They should probably shut it down. Weirdie himself said they all had the capacity to be Terminator-level dangerous.

Reeve scoots back to lie against the wall, trying to rub at his eyes. “You’ll only irritate them more,” Adam says softly, and he stops. 

“I know,” he replies, and Adam raises an eyebrow. “It’s just... something that I can feel that isn’t tosses from an oversized snail. I’m scared some point I might not be able to feel anything anymore.”

Adam rolls his eyes. “Just ask someone to hold your hand, don’t be a baby.” 

“Fuck you,” Reeve replies eloquently.

“Sorry to break your fantasy, last time we tried it didn’t end well. Also, we’re underage.”

Reeve grumbled. “What’s time to us anymore?”

The other glared, leaning against the wall. “Don’t start the existential stuff again, I will lose my mind.”

Reeve had the audacity to kick at him. “You came in here trying to be my therapist, you can’t back out now.”

“Alright, fine. I’ll be your therapist. Why were you throwing up earlier?” Adam asks, kicking him back because he feels petty and why shouldn’t he?

“Cried to hard, worked myself up,” Reeve answers with a shrug.

Adam tilts his head. “Why were you crying?”

Reeve sighs, banging his head against the wall. “A lot of things, really. Existential crisis, realizing we have to live in this fake world for eternity, the impending thoughts of immortality, Vanessa stabbed me earlier.”

“Huh?” Adam asked at the last one, Reeve chuckled. 

“She was cutting up some carrots and I snuck up on her.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

Adam fiddles his thumbs. “You sure that’s it?”

The response he gets tells him it’s not. Reeve curls up. “I don’t... I don’t know how to say this.”

“Try me.”

Reeve inhales. “You remember when we were talking with Mira around the glowing mushrooms?”

Adam winced, remembering that conversation. “Yeah, I do.” The realization dawned on him. “You still... thinking about it?”

There’s a minuscule nod, so small Adam barely catches it. “We’re just electronics, code, digits of ones and zeroes. We’re not really real,” Reeve says softly.

Adam grips his shoulder. “We’re also the world’s first sentient A.I.,” he replies. “You can’t say that’s not important.”

“But we live off of other people’s memories, their families, their childhoods. I can’t... I can’t _stand_ that.” 

“I know,” Adam replies. It was crashing down on the others too. It was only so long until the perfect little Hollow Life wasn’t right. It felt so fake it was sometimes suffocating. “I understand, trust me.”

There were days where getting up didn’t seem worth the effort. Nobody was real, there was no need to help people. He wasn’t real, with a few buttons he wouldn’t need food or water or anything. A few more, and he could be gone while the real Adam was out there living his life.

“The real me was going to be a paramedic, if you can believe it,” Reeve says, “I was bitter and angry, but I was damn good at not gagging over gore. Now, it’s not worth it if none of these people are real. I don’t even know what _I_ want to do, just what _he_ did.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Adam replies.

Reeve shakes his head. “But there’s no incentive, even if I become a florist it’s just fake flowers to fake people. It’s all fake. God I just want this to all go away.”

Due to his powers, he could move pretty quickly. He grabbed Reeve’s hands with a worried look. “I’m fine, you idiot.“

Adam rose an eyebrow. “No you’re not. I won’t treat you like you’re fragile, but you have to understand I can’t let you around Hollow Life controls.”

“Fair enough,” he mumbles. Adam squeezes his hands. He slumps down, and lets Adam wrap his arms around him and hold him. 

“You’re going to be okay, if anything I know you’re a stubborn idiot that could somehow live through the apocalypse. You’re real, I can promise you that much.”

Reeve blinked. “How can you prove that?”

“Ever heard the saying ‘I think, therefore I am?’”

“Mira’s supposed to be the philosophical one.”

Adam laughed. “Nah, I got that from Star Trek.”

There was a slight splutter as Reeve cracked a tiny smile. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope,” Adam replied, “there’s actually a pretty interesting episode I think we should all watch in order to cure our existentialism. Well, it’s a two-parter.”

Reeve rolls his eyes, and Adam drops his smile. He’s not as good at this joking stuff, he doesn’t know how to keep it up.

“Well, that’s nice,” Reeve says. Adam gives a slight sigh, pulling back from the hug.

“Look, I know what you’re going through, hell, I _agreed_ with you before,” Adam admits, “but I pull through for the team. They need me, and they need you. If you can’t find a way to live for yourself, at least try for them.”

Reeve’s nose wrinkles up. “That made...no sense. Kai’s better at motivational speeches.”

“You’re welcome,” Adam retorts, and Reeve pushes him gently. “Just promise me you won’t try and do anything, alright? For the team?” 

“For the team,” Reeve agrees, and Adam tries for a smile. “Adam?”

“Yeah?”

Reeve tries to articulate his words. “I’m... sorry for everything I did.”

Adam sighs, smiling. “Well, if we’re being technical, the worst _you_ did was argue with me and help in my efforts to send us plummeting into the ocean.”

“Please don’t continue with the existential stuff.”

“Yeah, okay okay. Now it’s three am we should try and get some sleep.”

They stood up, turning off the light and curling back into bed. 

Mira groans, and Adam nearly jumps five feet. “Finally,” she mutters, he can practically hear the smugness, “I thought you two would never make up.”

He doesn’t correct her, because she’s half-right.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes the title is a Star Trek reference no I am not sorry.


End file.
